I was wondering on what is the state of M1 chip support for Topaz software?
I installed Sharpen and Denoise on my M1 macbook, and compared Sharpen performance with 2 other macs using the same test .TIF file.
While on MM i7 2018 it took 4.01 minutes to complete, MacBook i5 2018 completed the task in around 7 minutes but M1 Pro really lagged behind with 10+ minutes (GPU enabled by default). I think that only CPU mode was even more slow.
Here are what works and what doesnât on my new iMac with Big Sur:
WORK FINE: Clarity, Details, Denoise 6 and Denoise AI
DONâT WORK
Adjust AI wonât open
Adjust 5.1.0 opens and runs but wonât save
BW Effects 2 opens and runs but wonât save
Topaz Studio 2 wonât open
Adjust AI wonât open
This is a lot of updating for Topaz. I hope they fix these soon. They are my go to apps.
Iâm disappointed to lose Adjust AI in particular. I had been using that on a variety of different pictures, and have gotten some welcome positive feedback from people who have seen them. Honestly, Iâm disappointed that Topaz is not more ready for Big Sur and canât or wonât give an ETA for a fix to bring the AI product line current for products where it is not. I have other toolsâAffinity Photo & Affinity Designâwhere the vendor released product versionsthat are Big Sur compliant well before Big Sur was released. Topaz is a member of the Apple Developer program and so has had plenty of opportunity to test against Big Surâs various betas and either get the Topaz code aligned with Big Sur or proactively communicate to its licensed users which products were not ready. A notice on the Topaz support site saying âdonât update to Big Surâ with no email outreach is not my idea of how this should have been handled.
Given the ongoing payments we make to Topaz to keep receiving development updates to our licensed product, I think we should be receiving better service.
As an app developer myself, I understand the complexity of updating software to support a new operating system. But Apple, in particular, has a solid developer support model in place which gives application developers early access to new releases for exactly this purpose.
It appears to me that J2R and Adjust AI are written perhaps using an older framework, as all of the other apps seem to have been updated rather quickly and seem to have a different installer method. I expect it is more difficult, for some reason, to update J2R and Adjust AI. Perhaps they are using a third-party developer. In any case, it seems that testing on Big Sur while in beta did not effectively occur.
Also with J2R and Adjust AI, it appears that future updates for those apps are âfreeâ as it is not listed as part of the annual subscription (yet). Perhaps this is exactly why - because the development/updates on those older frameworks are more complex and take more time.
You shouldnât have to bother about things like this as a user! Unfortunately Topaz Labs has a endless history of bad communication and slow development of the software.
They always come up with a excuse for not having done what every other software company does. Or just say donât update to Big Sur on the website, without sending out a personal mail.
The development of Adjust seems to have stopped a long time ago. Strange that Sharpen AI, Denoise AI and Gigapixel AI need a update every 10 dayâs and Adjust AI doesnât need any AI neural network results updating? To my taste Adjust is a unfinished product that gives over saturated results and I prefer the classic Adjust that I still have.
That is a load of rubbish as other companies such as C1 etc. are also having issues with Big Sur, there is another Beta of big sur being prepared 14 days after the official release.
There has always been a problem with OS updates and software and that will never be rectified unless the OS releases are 100% perfect and software developers have been given the perfect rereleases for a period of time before the OS update is released. Windows and Apple have provided less than stable OS releases for a long. long time.
Many corporate IT departments restrict their users from updating their devices for months (or even years for government systems) to ensure that the changes are stable first.
Very strong language for a moderator! I used Capture One this whole week without any problem! Capture One 21 is on his way too and Iâm not allowed to show you the Beta of 21 but it works. So before calling something rubbish take a deep breath!!! Adjust Ai was not updated for ages and you know that as well!
The reason for the so called âstrong languageâ is simply because your accusations are totally unfounded. How do you know what Topaz Labs is doing about optimizing their applications to work on Big Sur? How do you know what the external component owners are doing to update support to Big Sur?
The fact that Adjust Ai doesnât function in Big Sur is because there havenât be updates for almost 11/2 year.
The promise was that the neural network was making the apps smarter and better all the time, but unfortunately that didnât work out for Adjust Ai that was not developed anymore.
They have already said it and JPEG to RAW need updating.
I would also suggest that the reason it doesnât run on big sur is that it wasnât designed to and the components need to be updated as they donât run on big sur. No one updates apps for the sake of updating if they are working.
It seems to be taking quite a while to get out compatibility updates for Big Sur. Is there a particular reason for this?
That said, whenever I start Studio 2 I get. a message that there is an update, but none is found. Iâve taken to just answering âNo,â when asked if I want to update. Is this a âcompatibilityâ issue?
Whenever I tried to update a Topaz product (Big Sur). The online installer would crash my entire system. I opened a ticket but havenât gotten a reply. My troubleshooting led me to Norton as a potential culprit. I uninstalled it, rebooted and the update process completes without a problem. Wondering if anyone else has seen anything like this or did I just have a corrupted Norton install (before I reinstall it)âŠ
I have been a fanboy of Topaz plugins for many years and have finally configured my workflow to include the new AI apps into my photography processing workflow. But I am a bit disappointed that Topaz Labs has not stayed on top of Appleâs move to Big Sur. I waited long enough to convert.
Having paid for the software, Iâll continue to bug support with bug reports.
Unfortunately, life does not revolve around Topaz. I have many good apps that run perfectly well under Big Sur, if Topaz do not want you to install it then it is up to them but they run the risk of falling behind the rest. All the legacy products Iâve tested work OK, though, so it seems itâs just the AI stuff that is not compatible. My advice would be to go ahead and install then wait for Topaz to catch up with the rest of the world.